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The Gunnison Valley VOTER Newsletter of the League of Women Voters of the Gunnison Valley
Dec 2020
Election Recap
Gunnison County Election officials are recovering from a COVID-19 shutdown and are now completing the final election audits this week, according to Kathy Simillion, Gunnison County Clerk & LWVGV member.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold advises that all state totals are final with the exception of Gunnison County, where less than 300 ballots have been pending due to an outbreak of COVID-19.
Total voter turnout for all 64 Colorado counties was 86.87 percent
Total Ballots Cast: 3,295,666
Active Voters total: 3,793,790
Election 2020 saw an unprecedented voter turn-out, a staggering record never seen before in the history of the United States, according to Karen Sheek, LWVCO president. Based on an early count from November 5th, The Colorado Sun reported that 3,295,192 Coloradans had cast their ballots, accounting for 78.7% of total registered voters statewide. At that time Colorado was second only to Minnesota in state voter turn-out and we since have surpassed the Minnesota record of 82% as our state audits are completed.
“This is an historic election,” said Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold. “Even during a pandemic, more Coloradans voted in this election than in any previous election in our state’s history. Colorado’s elections set the gold standard for the nation. It is clear that when people have access, they will vote.”
LWVCO reports that ensuring voters had accurate election information was more critical than ever this year. Changes to voting rules and processes due to the pandemic and the widespread mis- and disinformation campaigns made 2020 a challenge. However, the League took on this task with great success. Success could be measured in registration, GOTV, voter information, and particularly voter protection.
VOTE411 had a record-breaking election cycle! More than 6 million voters across the country accessed VOTE411 to get information about voting. Voters viewed more than 37 million pages in both English and Spanish. LWV thanks the over 450 Leagues from 44 states – including DC – who used VOTE411 to upload candidate information, and we thank the dedicated staff who continuously updated the site with changes in real-time.
As Leagues turn the corner from Election Day and start to think about their advocacy work for the 2021 cycle, the LWVUS Advocacy and Litigation (A+L) department has put together two pieces to help guide Leagues in their federal and state advocacy. These are available on our website lwvgunnison.org -- from the home page select news from the menu bar at the top and pull down the articles that interest you. – News from several sources compiled by Rochelle Needham, LWVGV Communications.